Emerging media and press freedoms as determinants of nonviolent and violent political conflicts, 1990–2006

Abstract

Using aggregate-level data, this study compares instances of intrastate political conflict that occurred in both nonviolent and violent forms. Specifically, analyses presented in this study examine the relationships that exist between diffusion rates of emerging media and enhanced press freedoms in countries that experienced differing types of conflicts from 1990 through 2006. Through a series of analytic models, the results observed here indicate that higher levels of emerging media and press freedoms are better predictors of nonviolent—as opposed to violent—conflict. Findings from this study thus bridge an important gap in the literature between communication and political science research in establishing linkages between emerging media technologies and press freedoms and their interconnections with nonviolent and violent political conflict. Implications for related interdisciplinary fields are discussed.

Emerging media, political protests, and government repression in autocracies and democracies from 1995 to 2012

“…Commonly, collective action and emerging media are associated with nonviolent methods of resistance such as protests or sit-ins. Groshek and Christensen (2016), found that when comparing instances of major nonviolent and violent political conflict in countries, the countries with higher levels of emerging media and press freedoms were more likely to experience nonviolent rather than violent conflict.…”

Muddying the Waters: How Perceived Foreign Interference Affects Public Opinion on Protest Movements

“…Over the past 15 years, academic interest in nonviolent civil resistance campaigns has grown due to the combination of the Color Revolutions, the Arab Spring, and seminal contributions by Chenoweth and Stephan (2008;. Recent research has analyzed domestic (Brancati 2016;Butcher and Svensson 2016;Chenoweth and Ulfelder 2017;Dahlum 2019;Groshek and Christensen 2017;Tucker 2007) and international (Braithwaite, Braithwaite, and Kucik 2015;Gleditsch and Rivera 2017;Karakaya 2018;Murdie and Bhasin 2011) factors driving major nonviolent protests (such as diffusion), as well as the determinants of their success in realizing their primary objectives (Chenoweth and Stephan 2011;Huet-Vaughn 2013;Klein and Regan 2018;Nepstad 2011;Ritter 2015a).…”

A Double-Edge Sword? Mass Media and Nonviolent Dissent in Autocracies

“…These studies offer many valuable insights, but comparative empirical research on the mass media-dissent nexus remains scant. To our knowledge, only Groshek and Christensen (2017) have analyzed the effect of media freedom on mass nonviolent dissent. This study differs from ours by covering a shorter period (1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006), focusing on both democracies and autocracies, and does not consider the potential selection problems.…”